May 17, 2010

George W. Bush = James Madison

By: AF Editors

What? Who dares mention W. in the same breath as the author of the Federalist Papers and framer of the Constitution? Well, as I mentioned before, I’ve been listening to Empire of Liberty, a history of the United States from 1789-1816. Although there are no references to W. in the book, the description of Madison’s conduct of the War of 1812 bears a striking resemblance to the criticism leveled more recently at Bush.

First of all, the justification for the war was flimsy. Even now, it remains unclear why Madison and other republicans thought the war was either necessary or advisable. Compared to Bush, Madison persuaded fewer members of the opposition to support his plan. Shortly after the war began, it became clear that Madison had no viable plan to win it and that the military was completely unprepared for the assignment it had been given. Compared to the professionals of today, the army of 1812 was a slapstick embarrassment. To make matters worse, Madison and his fellow Republicans were directly responsible for the sorry state of the armed forces, since they had refused to provide funding for the army and navy, even as it became clear that war was imminent. Finally, Madison’s war effectively bankrupted the US government, in part because of ideologically-driven incompetence, such as the dismantling of the First Bank of the United States in spite of its record of achievement.

In case you’re curious, the purpose of the post isn’t to make any excuses for the tragic mistakes that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld made in the conduct of the war in Iraq. Rather, it’s meant as a reminder that even the Founders were deeply flawed giants. As much as ever, I find myself frustrated by the susceptibility of extremely intelligent and well-informed people to the belief that there once was golden age of American politics that we could all return to if only we were wiser and more virtuous.